Factors that contribute to occurrence of malnutrition among children below five years in pediatric ward Itojo Hospital, Ntungamo District, Uganda
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Date
2017-04
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Publisher
Kampala International University, School of Health Sciences
Abstract
The study was aimed at assessing the factors that have contributed to the occurrence of malnutrition among children below five years in Pediatric Ward at Itojo Hospital, Ntungamo District, Uganda. The specific objectives of the study were; to find out demographic factors that contribute to occurrence of malnutrition, assess socio-economic factor that contribute to occurrence of malnutrition and to describe the cultural factors that contribute to occurrence of malnutrition. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used where both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied. This was used to get information from 100 mothers records from Itojo Hospital of children diagnosed with malnutrition under the age of five years from Ntungamo district and simple random sampling was used. The study consider only mothers who had children below 5years of age and those of children with more than 5 years were not considered. And the data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using Microsoft Excel to come up with graphs, pie-charts and tables. The study findings revealed that mothers’ age at birth has a great impact on the health of the child. Malnutrition and stunting as the study indicates that 42% of the mothers with malnourished children were aged between 25–29 years. Findings further indicated that occupation of the mother had a great impact of the malnutrition of the child as more than a half 56% of the mothers with malnourished children were causal laborers and 20% were peasants. The socio-economic status of the mothers / family was found to be the major factor determining malnutrition of children. It was found out that mothers who are educated with good jobs, have much knowledge about the nutrition of mothers during pregnancy, have good health seeking behaviors and vice versa...
Description
A research report submitted to Uganda Nurses and Midwives Examination Board in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a Diploma in Nursing Sciences of Kampala International University
Keywords
Malnutrition, Malnutrition among children below five years, Pediatrics, Itojo Hospital, Ntungamo District